Tens of thousands march in Amsterdam, pressing the Dutch government on Gaza and Israel

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Tens of thousands of people, many of them dressed in red, marched through Amsterdam on Sunday in a mass demonstration aimed at pressing the Dutch government to take more decisive action against Israel over Gaza .

The organizers of “Red Line” demonstrations in the Netherlands called for measures including stricter trade sanctions on Israel, officially declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide and halting all arms sales to Israel.

The Dutch branch of Amnesty International, one of the organizers, said in an online post that more than 200,000 people joined the march.

“What is happening there is inhumane,” Mike van Dongen said as he walked in the huge throng of people. He was critical of the Dutch government’s actions. “As far as I’m concerned, they are doing nothing,” he said. “They don’t dare take any serious steps.”

As the protesters marched along a normally busy Amsterdam street that was closed to traffic on Sunday, a man stood on a bus stop with a loudspeaker shouting, “Free, free Palestine!” Many of the marchers echoes his cry as they passed.

Israel strongly rejects suggestions it is committing genocide in Gaza in its military campaign that followed the attacks by Hamas-led militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 . Militants killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza.

More than 1,550 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, though it says women and children make up roughly half of the dead.

The campaign in Gaza has strained relations between the Netherlands and Israel. The Dutch foreign minister resigned last year after failing to secure new sanctions against Israel.

Since then, a new minority coalition government has taken power and introduced an import ban on products from Israeli settlements, which the Dutch government and most of the international community consider illegal — a move that provoked a diplomatic spat with Israel.

Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who took part in a march last year but was not present on Sunday, defended his government’s actions at his weekly press conference on Friday.

“Every single day and every single week, we do what we can to alleviate the terrible situation there,” he said. He added that his administration is “exerting greater political and diplomatic pressure" on Israel to abide by its agreements on Gaza. Simultaneously, he said, his government is applying more pressure on Hamas and other organizations that continue to carry out "various operations that endanger the safety of ordinary Israelis.”